The boys are back in town.

Since the Three Stars last convened in the aftermath of the Early Signing Period, there’s been a ton going on in the world of Florida State football — and there’s more to come.

From Mike Norvell’s new FSU contract after spurning the Alabama Crimson Tide in the wake of Nick Saban’s retirement to the sanctions that were announced by the NCAA against the Seminole football program in the wake of the Amarius Mims (Georgia Bulldogs offensive tackle) recruitment last offseason and updates on a couple prospects the Noles might add to round out the prep signings for Tribe 24, we’ve got a chock-full Florida State of Recruiting podcast for you.

Topics covered today include:

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With the opener about one month away, the Seminole Softball Wrap podcast continues its Florida State softball season previews with a look at the Seminoles non-conference schedule.

Trips to Clearwater, Fort Myers and Eugene, Oregon headline the non-conference schedule for FSU, but they also host two tournaments and have some marquee, midweek SEC matchups.

Four of the seven other teams that played in the Women’s College World Series — the Washington Huskies, Stanford Cardinals, Tennessee Lady Volunteers and Alabama Crimson Tide — are on the schedule this year plus the Oregon Ducks, UCLA Bruins, Florida Gators, McNeese Cowgirls, Charlotte 49ers and Texas Longhorns, who all made the tournament a year ago with the Ducks and Longhorns losing in the Super Regionals.

Will they all still be as good heading into the 2024 season? Who could surprise from the teams not mentioned? And which tournament stands out the most for the Noles?

Brian Pellerin and Gwyn Rhodes discuss on this episode of the Seminole Softball Wrap podcast.

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It was a busy holiday season for the Florida State Seminoles football program.

An appearance in the Orange Bowl against the Georgia Bulldogs didn’t go very well. Plus, a wild transfer portal carousel at the quarterback position that had a handful of options spinning around ended with former Clemson and Oregon State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei joining Mike Norvell’s team.

On the first off-season episode of the Seminole Wrap podcast, Brian Pellerin, Jon Marchant and Ben Meyerson will dive into what we learned from the Noles mostly reserve roster getting beat up by the two-time defending champs.

And what can the FSU faithful expect from DJU? After three years with the rival Tigers in the ACC, many weren’t very impressed with the former blue-chip prospect. But did the year in Corvallis with the overperforming Beavers change our perspective on Uiagalelei’s potential?

All that on this episode of the Seminole Wrap.

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Florida State’s Board of Trustees took the first step of leaving the ACC today, with members voting unanimously to legally challenge the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Grant of Right agreement.

“Today we’ve reached a crossroad in our relationship with the ACC,” FSU Board of Trustees chair Peter Collins said. “I believe this board has been left no choice but to challenge the legitimacy of the ACC grant of rights and its severe withdrawal penalties”

FSU outside council David Ashburn laid out what FSU will argue to challenge the Grant of Rights, among them:

Several new bombshell pieces of information came to light during today’s meeting

Speculation began stirring when reports surfaced earlier this week about FSU exploring its future in the ACC. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that Florida State will likely partner with Sixth Street Partners to help fund the ACC exit.

Florida State’s relationship with the conference has become increasingly strained over the last year. Florida State Athletic Director Michael Alford gave a presentation to the FSU Board of Trustees last February outlining the growing financial gap ACC schools will be facing compared to those in the Big Ten and SEC. Alford gave a blunt summation of the situation with “Something has to change.”

Just prior to the annual ACC meetings in May 2023 news of the “Magnificent Seven” in the ACC sent shock waves across the college football landscape. It became known that Florida State, Clemson, Miami, UNC, NC State, Virginia, and Virginia Tech had explored possible avenues to leave the conference.

The ACC then undertook a controversial western expansion adding Cal, Stanford, and SMU despite objections from Florida State, UNC, and Clemson. This was speculated to be a move to act as a buffer against future defections.

Florida State’s snub from the College Football Playoff was the straw that broke the camel’s back. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips was largely absent while SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was on ESPN constantly lobbying for a spot for his conference. FSU becoming the first undefeated Power 5 conference champion to be left out of the playoffs confirmed the ACC’s spot as a 2nd tier league going forward.

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Florida State has the No. 9 ranked class in the 247Sports Composite Rankings, while ranking No. 11 in the On3 Industry Rankings.

Although many wanted to act like the sky was falling for FSU on National Signing Day, on the whole, the Noles had a really solid class with a blue-chip ratio of 68% according to 247Sports and 59% according to On3.

However, there were two major flips on the day: five-star safety KJ Bolden to the Georgia Bulldogs (fairly unexpected) and five-star defensive lineman Armondo Blount to the Miami Hurricanes (100% expected) — echoing a trend that we’ve seen two years prior of high-profile flips (Travis Hunter and Keldric Faulk) when it’s time to seal the deal.

In the latest episode of the Florida State of Recruiting, the Three Stars break down overall thoughts on the class, as well as:

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The Florida State Seminoles softball team are just over 50 days from beginning their quest to return to Oklahoma City after last year’s ACC Championship and WCWS finalist season.

Brian Pellerin and Gwyn Rhodes are previewing each ACC team as part of their offseason podcast series. This time, they’re looking at the second half of the conference’s offseason changes ahead of the 2024 season.

This episode starts with Boston College, they talk about where the Eagles finished last season and the new additions added. Last time, they covered Boston College through NC State.

This time, they’re covering North Carolina through Virginia Tech.

Starting with the Tar Heels and their new coach. Megan Smith Lyon left Marshall to join her alma mater in Chapel Hill. She had a program-record 45 wins a year ago.

She had four key losses to replace in her first offseason in charge.

Two are out of eligibility in All-ACC First Team infielder Abby Settlemyre and outfielder Bri Stubbs, who led the team in runs. The other two are a pair of All-ACC Second Team players to the transfer market in shortstop Alex Brown, who led the team in hits, batting average and OBP, to Clemson and pitcher Lilli Backes, who posted a 2.79 ERA in 180.2 innings, to Georgia.

The Backes transfer is a bit of a pseudo-trade as the Tar Heels are getting a UGA transfer pitcher in to replace Backes in Britton Rogers, who posted a 4.75 ERA in 125.1 innings a year ago, Their new head coach also brought over two 2023 Sun Belt first-teamers from Marshall in Autumn Owen — the winner of the Sun Belt triple crown last season — and Alex Coleman — the conference leader in hits.

Next is Notre Dame, who lost Joley Mitchell to Texas in the transfer portal as well as Leea Hanks, Lexi Orozco and Payton Tidd. But it comes with two big additions — Princeton’s Alexis Laudenslager and freshman Christina Willemssen.

Laudenslager is a two-time Ivy League pitcher of the year while Willemssen was a member of the USA Softball 18U team.

Pitt’s offseason came with some big changes, starting with the coaching staff. Jenny Allard, the head coach at Harvard joins the Panthers after 28 seasons as the Ivy League’s longest tenured and winningest coach. With a 342-130-1 career record, she’s also a member of the NFCA Hall of Fame.

The new staff also brings big changes to the roster. There were two transfers out — Dani Drogemueller to Duke and Bailey Drapola to USF — as well as EC Taylor, Sarah Seamans and Yvonne Whaley. Coming in to the program are four transfers and four freshman.

Syracuse had a much less eventful roster turnover. Two key losses in Ryan Starr to Ole Miss in the portal and Kaia Oliver. They had one transfer in Julianna Verni of Purdue and one key freshman addition in top 50 catcher Taylor Davison.

Virginia made their additions through their freshman class bringing in five top 100 players in infielders Brie Biddle (100), Macee Eaton (31) and Bella Cabral (51), catcher Melissa Carr (60) and pitcher Julia Cuozzo (23). They lost three players to the transfer portal — Molly Grube to James Madison, Gabby Baylog to Florida Atlantic and Mikaela Fox to Southern Miss — and two others in Tori Gilbert and Jenny Bressler.

Finally, Virginia Tech’s biggest addition comes to the coaching staff as they go from no pitching coach to one of the best in the country in Josh Johnson from Mississippi St. In his four years in Starkville, he reduced the Bulldogs era from 3.36 to 2.66.

After previewing those teams, Brian and Gwyn discuss Gwyn’s visit to one of the meccas of college sports, the Kibbie Dome!

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One week after Florida State’s undefeated season ended with them being left out of the College Football Playoff, the Seminole Wrap crew reunite to answer some of your questions about what’s next for Mike Norvell and the Seminoles.

Tomahawk Nation beat writer Jordan Silversmith joins usual hosts Brian Pellerin, Jon Marchant and Ben Meyerson to discuss topics from his recent mailbag article on topics such as the impact on the transfer portal and recruiting and the timeline for FSU’s exit from the ACC.

Plus, what did we see from Tate Rodemaker and Brock Glenn under center in the last two games. Should Mike Norvell look to the transfer portal and add to the offseason QB competition?

And what should we do with the Orange Bowl? How much interest can we have in Florida State’s New Year’s Six bowl game battle with the Georgia Bulldogs in Miami.

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The Florida State Seminoles shut down the No. 15 Louisville Cardinals 16-6 on Saturday night to earn the program’s 16th conference title. FSU was led by an incredible defensive performance and did just enough on offense despite being forced to start their third-string freshman Brock Glenn at quarterback.

But none of that mattered to the College Football Playoff Committee, as on Sunday afternoon they made the unconscionable and logically inconsistent argument to leave out 13-0 Florida State — one of just three undefeated teams — in favor of one-loss Texas and one-loss Alabama. That decision made FSU the first ever undefeated power conference champion to ever be left out of a chance to win the national title.

This week on the Seminole Wrap podcast, Brian Pellerin, Ben Meyerson, and Jon Marchant discuss the Playoff Committee’s decision, their abhorrent justification for it, and the ramifications the decision is sure to have both for Florida State but also across the college football landscape. The group also discusses the team, its legacy, what this season has meant for fans and the program and its players, and last but not least, head coach Mike Norvell.

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13-0 and it feels so good.

For the first time since 2014, Florida State has claimed a conference championship, riding an elite performance from its defense to secure a 16-6 win over the Louisville Cardinals.

The win came despite a gameday announcement that true freshman Brock Glenn would be starting in relief of Tate Rodemaker at quarterback.

Florida State utilized a Wildcat attack to offset any lack of familiarity for the frosh, with a 73-yard rush from Lawrance Toafili setting up a 2-yard touchdown rush from the back the next play.

With the victory, Florida State has positioned itself well for a spot in the 2023 College Football Playoff — No. 2 Michigan beat Iowa and No. 3 Washington took down Oregon while No. 1 Georgia lost for the first time in 29 games with a slip-up vs. Alabama.

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It’s championship weekend in college football and somehow that means fewer trophies will be handed out this week than last week. That may not make sense to many non-college football fans, but the diehards know there’s nothing quite like battling your rival for a chance to hoist a five-foot Paul Bunyan or a pair of boots that are somehow related to Howard Schnellenberger.

Regardless of how you celebrate championship weekend, the fact is the college football season is nearly over and that sucks.

Gone are the big rivalry games.

Gone are the coaches on the hot seat.

Gone are the full Saturday slates.

All that’s left is the boring part... crowning a champion and we’ll take a big step in doing that this week.

Ten games over Friday and Saturday with five of them having some impact on who the final four teams are when they announce the College Football Playoffs on Sunday at noon. So with a condensed slate we’ll do things on the Sharpen the Point podcast differently this week. No review of last week. All focus on the 10 games with notes on the game and matchup implications of all 10 from both Brian Pellerin and Chris Tyndall.

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